How Long Will The PlayStation 5 Pro Shortage Last?

Sony has seen a lot of turbulence in the PS5 generation. The PS5 launched in November 2020 with limited stock during the pandemic due to chip shortages and global supply chain issues. These were resolved in January 2023, with Sony releasing its mid-gen refresh, the PS5 Pro, in November 2024. Then, in April 2026, Sony raised the prices of the PS5 and PS5 Pro, stating it was due to the state of the global economic landscape. Then, Sony announced that it’s ending physical disc production by 2028, sparking debates about an all-digital future. Now, Sony is dealing with another issue in the lead-up to “GTA 6” — a shortage of PS5 Pros.

Sony is working hard to resolve the issue, but all major retailers, including on Sony’s own storefront, have sold out. PlayFront claims to have obtained a memo that Sony sent out to retailers, telling them that the ongoing shortage will last “through early 2027 at the earliest.” PlayFront also claims the memo says that the reason for this is “temporary market supply constraints and high demand.” But what could be causing an $899 console to be the hottest item on the market?

As hinted earlier, it’s “GTA 6.” This is one of the biggest gaming events of the 2020s, and people want to ensure they’re playing on the most powerful hardware come November 19th. It’s also available on Xbox Series X and S, where players can use the New Zealand trick to play a few hours earlier.

Will GTA 6 run better on the PS5 Pro?

<img src="https://www.bgr.com/img/gallery/how-long-will-the-playstation-5-pro-shortage-last/will-gta-6-run-better-on-the-ps5-pro-1791285030.jpg” alt=’A PS5 controller on a charging dock with a “GTA 6” poster in the background’>

“GTA 6” will run at 30 FPS on all consoles. According to Digital Foundry, 60 FPS is possible but highly unlikely because “GTA 6” is a CPU-bound game. Rockstar would have to cut back on the complexity of the game’s world, on top of making graphical optimizations, and that would compromise the look and feel of the game. There are just too many complex simulations going on, like NPC interactions, advanced physics, traffic patterns, night and day cycles, and dynamic weather. All this is happening all at once to create a living, breathing world for you to interact with. Scaling back seems like a tall order.

However, might the game look any better on the PS5 Pro? According to IGN, which interviewed Alexander Battaglia from Digital Foundry, that could very well be the case. The PS5 Pro uses a powerful AI upscaler called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR). It offers better anti-aliasing (smoothing of an image‘s edges to make it look less pixelated) and image sharpness.

Then there’s real-time ray tracing, which Battaglia noticed is important to the GTA 6 experience. The PS5 Pro’s ray tracing capabilities are said to be more advanced than the base PS5. Battaglia said, “Real-time ray-traced transparency reflections are much more obvious” in the second trailer Rockstar posted of “GTA 6” compared to the first one. “So glass on beer bottles, cars’ windscreens, building windows, and more look particularly good.”